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THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



g-enus as to be remarkable. In several species the red-broAvn color 

 is not confined to the disk but spreads out on the ray flowers in a 

 circle of color that adds considerably to the beauty of the 

 flower. Rudheckia amplexicanlis usually has such a circle of 

 color in its flower-heads and the nurserymen have produced a 

 form very similar to it from Rudheckia speciosa which is 

 known as bicolor. 



That the color which characterizes other members of 

 the family is apparently only latent in the flowers of Rudheckia 

 hirta must have been brought to the attention of every close 

 observer who has had occasion to pass through any con- 

 siderable area of this plant in bloom. It is not difficult to 

 find specimens in which the rays are marked in one way or 

 another by touches of reddish-brown. Occurrences of this 

 kind have been recorded in the pages of this and other botani- 

 cal publications and in some cases efforts have been made to 

 continue such plants in cultivation. 



The removal of these plants with abnormally colored 

 flowers to the garden, has apparently always resulted in their 

 returning to the regular color pattern. The color seems to 

 be in some way connected with vegetative vigor and disappear? 

 when the nutrition of the plant is interfered with. Some 

 time ago, however, it occurred to me that even if the flower- 

 heads reverted tO' the normal color, the capacity for producing 

 various interesting variations from the type might be inherent 

 in the seeds from such flower-heads, and in order to test this, 

 seeds from the abnormal plants were sown and a hundred or 

 more seedlings secured. These have now produced their first 

 crop of flowers and, much to my delight, have far outdone 

 any wild plants that I have ever encountered. The colors are 

 not only deeper and more abundant, but several color patterns 

 not previously reported have appeared. These, though vary- 

 ing considerably, tend to group themselves around three prin- 

 cipal patterns. In the commonest, there is a blotch of bright 



